Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-06-08
CHAPTER XVI.
PRETORIA.

jess did not have very happy time Of it
at Pretoria previous to the outbreak Of hos
tilities Most people who have made great
moral effort, and after severe mental strug-
gle entered on the drear path of self sacrifice,
have experienced the reaction that will fol-
low as certainly as the night follows the day.
1t is one thing to renounce the light, to stand
in the full glow of the setting beams Of our
imperial joy and chant out our farewell, and
quite another to live alone in the darkness.
For little willie memory may support us,
but memory grows faint. On every side is
the thick, cheerless pail and the stiffness
through which no sound comes. We are
alone, quite alone, cut OFF from the fellow
ship Of the day. unseeing and unseen. More
especially is this SO when our dungeon is OF
our own making, and we ourselves have shot
its bolts. There is natural night that comes
to all, and in its unwavering course swallows
every hope and fear, forever and forever. To
this we can more easily resign ourselves, for
we recognize the universal lot and bow our
selves beneath the all effacing hand. The
earth does not pine when the daylight passes
from its peaks; it only sleeps.
But jess had buried herself, and she knew
have resigned her affection to her sister; she
had done SO of her own will, and at times she
naturally enough regretted it. Self denial is
stern faced angel. II only we hold him fast
and wrestle with him long enough he will
speak us soft words of happy sound, just as,
if we wait long enough in the darkness of the
night. stars will come to share our loneliness.
Still this is one of those things that time hides
from US and only reveals at his own pleasure;
and so far as jess was concerned, his pleasure
was not yet Outwardly, however, she
showed no sign Of her distress and of the pas
sion which was eating at her heart. She was
pale and SILENT it is true, but then she had al
ways beeL remarkable for her pallor and
silence. Only she gave up her singing.
And so the weeks went on, drearily enough
for the poor girl, who was doing what other
people did-eatinS and drinking, riding and
going to parties like the rest of the Pretoria
world, till at last sho began to think that she
had better be going home again, lest she
should wear out her welcome. And yet she
dreaded to do so, mindful of her daily prayer
TO be delivered from temptation. As to what
was going on at Morifontein she was in al
most complete ignorance Bessie wrote to
her, Of course, and so did her uncle once or
twice, but they did not tell her much of what
she wanted to know. Bessie's letters were, it
is true, full of allusions Of what Capt. Mel
was doing, hut she did not 60 beyond that.
Her reticence, however, told her observant
sister more than her words. Why was she so
reticent. No doubt because things still hung
in the balance And then she would think of
what it all meant for her, and now ani again
give way to an outburst of passionate jeol-
ousy, which would have been painful enough
to witness if anybody could have been there
to see it.
And so the time went on toward Christmas,
for jess, having been warmly pressed to do
so, had settled to stay over Christmas and re-
turn to the farm with the new year. There
had been q great deal OF talk in the town